Shilin Night Market - Taipei’s Biggest and Best Night Market

09 July, 2009Thursday

Shilin Night Market is considered Taipei's best night market and is definitely the largest night market we visited. Located on the west side of Jiantan MRT station, it was easy to find - the bright stall lights were visible from the elevated MRT platform.

Early evening was obviously peak time judging by the crowds of people we saw out visiting the market.

Made up of a combination of stalls and small shops, there were masses of things to see at Shilin Night Market and faced with a number of directions to go, we were a little overwhelmed at first!

Some items were quite obvious to work out such as squid, chicken and other "conventional" meat. Portions were served up on sticks (an East Asian institution I'm beginning to think).

Or as this woman below sold, as kebab meat in bread.

Others foods just looked a little more unusual. We were intrigued by a few stalls that bore signs stating "Frogs Eggs"?!

Fruit was in abundance, prepared conveniently for taking away in clear boxes or as drinks piled high with fruit pieces.

Hungry as we were, we actually ended up going into a kind of hot pot restaurant deep in one part of the market where we saw cooks preparing the dishes outside.

They basically piled on a set of noodles and vegetables together with flavourings and our chosen meat into a shallow metal bowl, and then fired them up for a few minutes over a high heat before a waiter served up the dish at our table, on top of a small flame to keep the food hot.

Other spaces in Shilin Night Market were notably shops selling clothes and toys. We went down one staircase of a narrow shop only to find ourselves staring at a huge underground room packed with racks of budget clothes.

Whilst Linh dived straight it, I balked at the display before resigning myself to carrying Linh's potential purchases for the next few hours.

Another part of Shilin Night Market and an area directly across the road from the station was clearly meant for gaming entertainment. Whist there were a few shops selling accessories and toys alongside some open-fronted restaurants, most of the stalls offered fairground-style games, challenging players to throw darts, balls, shoot guns and the like to win prizes.

Though there were a few players, this part of Shilin Night Market was by far the quietest.